You would expect me to write about teachers who help me master Grammar or Vocabulary, taught me spelling and how to enunciate words. Well, sometimes we don’t get what we expect.
Most of us grew up with teachers who are amazing, the type of people we look up to. At least in our imaginations. I grew up meeting a few teachers who were really cool and a few teachers who really make me want to smack my head since I couldn’t smack theirs.
I remember once going for a new place, a home tuition (it was still legal back then) for English. During the first lesson, the teacher corrected me when I called the 3rd day of the week as Tuesday. Let’s consider Sunday as the 1st day. That would have made me right. The teacher said that it was Thursday, not Tuesday. I asked him what was the 5th day then? He told me Tuesday. So in his book, it would go like Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. The moment I got on my mom’s car on the way back home, I told mom everything and that I don’t want to continue taking tuition here. Mom agreed.
Then, there was this other teacher who loved pronouncing Then as Ten, and Ten as Then. She would sound like, “I brushed my teeth at then. Ten, I went to sleep.” I couldn’t get out of my class since it was school. She overdoes the pronunciation thing with her tongue. Seeing that pink, wriggly, muscle-y thing between her teeth as the words come out… th..EN…. I had to grit my teeth through the whole year.
There were a couple of teachers with idiosyncrasies that made them who they are. We used to use chalks and blackboards back then and the flying powdery chalk was and is still quite hazardous to the respiratory system. I had a moustachey teacher who uses the chalk very rarely, and when he did he would scrap the board as if he feared the board would cry out in pain. He would 'grip' the chalk with just his forefinger and his thumb. And most of the time, what he wrote, we could do without. Maybe he just likes picturing himself torturing the blackboard.
When I was in Year 5, our Maths teacher had the thickest rotan you've ever seen. Lucky for us and for all other students in that school, the rotan was for show and not for use. She used it very effectively, scaring us into thinking she wouldn't hesitate to use it, if necessary. She never did.
We, however, did have to recite our multiplication tables... in BM, which is a bulky kind of language considering nine which are 'jiu' in Chinese, "gao" in Cantonese and Hokkien, 'kiu' in hakka, 'nueve' in Spanish, 'kyu' in Japanese and so on and so forth, but 'sem-bi-lan' in Malay Language or as we call it, BM.
It can be quite tiring.
We had to recite it from 2 until 12, till she arrives in class. So, here's what we did. We left someone guarding at the door. We did our thing. When the teacher leaves the staffroom, a distance away, the lookout would inform us and we would start from the 4th or 5th multiplication tables, just to make it believable. There was only once when she was very late, (come to think of it, she was always late) and we finished the 12th tables and was left not knowing what to do.
There weren't any teachers in particular that I would have loved to hate. They're all just doing their jobs. But I do hate teachers who were really lazy, who couldn't be bothered and who just came to be a waste of space in the staffroom. Yes, we did have those even though I believe the teachers all over Malaysia during my schooling era were among the best. I can't remember any of them now. Perhaps I shouldn't try. They'd still be a waste of space.. in my memory bank.
I had this music teacher, Teacher Linda, who I love to bits. I got nothing to complain about her. She, on the other hand, might complain about how un-hardworking I was with my organ practices. I wonder where she is now.
My best teacher was Auntie Christine. I was told to call her that. She had a hard time teaching me during tuition about the difference between You and I because I kept referring to her as Aunty Christine.
No, say This is for me, that is for you.
This is for me, that is for .. Auntie Christine.
No, That is for you.
For you…
Say it again.
This is for me, that is for… Auntie Christine.
O_o|||
I know, I was cute like that when I was five. Bet she lost more than a few strands of hair when that happened. But she was lovely. And she came to my wedding, looking lovely still.
I was a smartass when I was a toddler, and was still one by the time I hit primary school. I love quizzes and exams. Perhaps too much. A teacher passed us our marked English quiz papers when I was in Year 1, or was it Year 2. I almost scored the paper but got 98 because of a mistake. My teacher made sure the whole class knew.
The picture showed a bird, but there’s this ‘clever’ girl who wrote parrot instead. So I cut her marks!
It was a cruel, cruel thing to do to an eager 7-year-old, but it taught me the importance of reading the instructions and following them. The teacher drew a parrot alright, but perhaps it was not in the syllabus, and the fact that the word ‘bird’ was in the box of choices whereas ‘parrot’ was not, didn’t help. My father found it funny and stroked my head. My mother did the responsible thing. “That will teach you to follow orders. Now stop crying and do better next time.”
That’s how I was, an earlier version of Hermione Granger, if you will. I didn’t study Potions or fight Death Eaters though. I just grew up in the midst of this sub-species of humans called teachers.
Jul 22, 2009
Jul 19, 2009
Mr Siao's Mandarin Class ends...
This Malaysian-produced sitcom comprises of a group of very talented people; talented in acting skills, language, comedy and in portraying Malaysia in a small classroom. I finally got to watch the last episode today, thanks to ktsiang's channel on Youtube. Look him up in Youtube to see all four parts of the final episode and all other preceeding episodes.
Here is the fourth part of that final episode that brought me, a fan amongst many, to tears.
I hope that we will be able to see more of Mr Siao and the groups' antics but I am not sure how they are going to continue with the second season, having said goodbye so suddenly (and without a final verdict on who is going to China). But here's to a great go at our local entertainment industry. Things are lightening up.
Here is the fourth part of that final episode that brought me, a fan amongst many, to tears.
I hope that we will be able to see more of Mr Siao and the groups' antics but I am not sure how they are going to continue with the second season, having said goodbye so suddenly (and without a final verdict on who is going to China). But here's to a great go at our local entertainment industry. Things are lightening up.
Jul 18, 2009
WTF
The Star Online, Thursday July 16, 2009
I AM responding to the letter “Speaking up to keep Chinese dialects alive” from CBH of Subang Jaya (The Star, July 14).
While it is good to know more dialects, I feel that it is not really necessary. Mandarin as a universal medium of communication is good enough. Take my case as an example. I recently got married and visited my parents-in-law last Chinese New Year, staying with them for 10 days.
My parents-in-law only speak Hock Chiew. It was traumatic because I could not understand Hock Chiew even though I can converse very well in Mandarin and Hokkien. I was overwhelmed by this “strange” dialect and I was like a dumb person.
I had this feeling of being left out, rejected and misunderstood. No one understood me even though my husband was willing to translate. I came away sick of not being able to interact with people in his hometown.
I believe Mandarin should be promoted so that there will be peace and understanding. Some of the dialects like Hock Chiew and Hainanese are very difficult to learn.
TYH,
Kota Damansara.
Kota Damansara.
---
Is there a bigger frog under a coconut shell out there? There seems to be a lot of ignorant souls out there who would try to change nature or a system to suit their own needs or wants. Refer PPSMI. Back to the issue at hand, rather than take the opportunity to learn Hock Chiew (I thought it was supposed to be hokchew?), she wants the whole town to relearn Mandarin, merely so she can understand them? I wonder what she would think if her husband asks that her parents learn Mandarin and discard Hokkien so he can understand them. God forbid that a person of this thinking would come to rule a nation or make important decisions that would affect the lives of many other people whose paths they would never cross.
Seeing this in a bigger picture form, speaking the dialects are not the only thing that makes a Hokkien hokkien or a Hokchew hokchew. I know that some people believe that in order to learn a culture you have to speak the language. But sometimes it could be the other way around: once you know a culture by heart, the language would be very easy to pick up.
The Chinese are a very 'tuan jie' type of people. They like to group together during festivals as much as they do during emergencies. They have unwritten codes of ethics, when to 'give face', when to not 'rat out on your friends or brothers', when to show your power over your husband (or when not to), and what to do to ensure that you do not bring shame to your parents or elders. But most importantly, they like to stick together. The only way you can split them apart would be through different dialects. However, deep down inside, a Hokkien will always be a Hokkien, a Hokchew will always be a Hokchew, regardless of who can speak Mandarin, or not.
PepeSmee.
A few days ago I wrote to a local paper regarding the Teaching Sci and Maths in English medium issue, also known as PPSMI (the full term is in Bahasa Malaysia). All the hype is being toned down by all main papers, probably because the Education Ministry is sticking to their latest change in policy and will not be swayed by the opinions of the 'minority' voting public.
Democracy sucks when it comes to this.
The contents of my letter mirrors parts of this article below. A rough translation accompanies each paragraph for those less fluent in my national language, BM.
Berita Harian, 18 Julai 2009
Parents and teachers in the rural areas here are confident that the 'cancelation' of PPSMI in 2012 will increase the number of students who will achieve good results in the two subjects in public examinations.
Ini kerana PPSMI menyebabkan kebanyakan pelajar sama ada di sekolah rendah atau menengah di pedalaman gagal mencapai kejayaan cemerlang dalam peperiksaan utama berikutan tidak memahami bahasa Inggeris.
This is because most students in primary or secondary schools in rural areas fail to achieve good results in public exams due to their inability to understand English.
Dengan mengikuti pengajaran dan pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam bahasa Malaysia, mereka yakin lebih mudah memahaminya, sekali gus mencapai kejayaan dalam Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) dan Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).
By following the teaching of Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia (national language), we are confident [sic] that they will be able to understand the subjects better, and thus achieve good results in UPSR, PMR and SPM (main examinations in primary and secondary schools in Malaysia).
Ketua Kampung Sumabi, Mantoi Paling, 59, berkata murid di kampung itu sukar memahami Sains dan Matematik yang diajar dalam bahasa Inggeris kerana tidak menguasai bahasa berkenaan.
Sumabi Village Chief, Mantoi Paling, 59, says that students in the village find it hard to understand Science and Mathematics that are taught in English because they are not fluent in the language.
"Kami gembira kerana anak kami lebih memahami Sains dan Matematik yang diajar dalam bahasa Malaysia. Dalam peperiksaan UPSR, PMR dan SPM sejak beberapa tahun lalu, tidak ramai murid di kampung ini mendapat keputusan cemerlang kerana tidak memahami bahasa Inggeris," katanya kepada Berita Harian, di sini semalam.
"We are happy because our kid [sic] can better understand Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia. In UPSR, PMR and SPM in the past few years, not many students in the village can achieve good results because they do not understand English," he said to Berita Harian, here yesterday.
Seorang penduduk, John Edward Limposon, 58, berkata PPSMI hanya akan berkesan jika sekolah di pedalaman dilengkapi kemudahan asas, terutama bekalan tenaga elektrik, jalan raya dan makmal komputer.
A villager, John Edward Limposon, 58, says that PPSMI is only effective if rural schools are equipped with basic necessities, especially electrical supply, roads and computer labs.
Katanya, PPSMI tidak berkesan kerana komputer yang dibekalkan di sekolah pedalaman tidak mampu digunakan sepenuhnya kerana ketiadaan bekalan tenaga elektrik.
He says, PPSMI is not effective because the computers provided to the rural schools are not used fully due to the lack of electrical supply.
"Untuk mendapatkan sumber tenaga, sekolah terpaksa bergantung kepada generator. Inilah masalah dihadapi pelajar di pedalaman seperti kampung ini," katanya.
"To get an energy source, the school has depend on generators. This is the problem faced by rural students in areas such like this village," he says.
Pensiangan adalah satu daripada kawasan luar bandar di Sabah. Dengan jarak kira-kira 80 kilometer dari Keningau, daerah ini jauh ketinggalan dari aspek kemudahan asas seperti jalan raya, tenaga dan air.
Pensiangan is one of the rural areas in Sabah. Located nearly 80 kilometres from Keningau, this province is far behind in many aspects such as basic facilities like roads, energy and water.
Murid Tahun 5 Sekolah Kebangsaan Pensiangan, Willie Mantoi, berkata beliau dan murid lain sukar memahami PPSMI kerana tidak menguasai bahasa berkenaan.
Primary 5 student of Pensiangan National School, Willie Mantoi, says that he and other students find it hard to understand PPSMI because they are not fluent in the language.
"Memang bagus dapat belajar Sains dan Matematik dengan menggunakan komputer tetapi kami tidak faham kerana ia diajar dalam bahasa Inggeris," katanya.
"It is good to learn Science and Mathematics with computers but we do not understand because the subjects were taught in English," he says.
Seorang guru di SK Sibangali yang enggan dikenali, berkata PPSMI tidak berkesan kerana komputer dalam makmal komputer sering rosak akibat terpaksa bergantung kepada generator.
A teacher in Sibangali National school who refused to be identified, says that PPSMI is not effective because computers in the computer lab break down a lot due to its dependence on generators.
"Kemudahan komputer untuk PPSMI di pedalaman tidak dapat digunakan seperti di bandar kerana sumber tenaga bergantung kepada generator," katanya.
"Computer facilities for PPSMI in rural areas cannot be used as they are used in urban areas because their power source depends on generators," it says.
----
1. I find the news article redundant and repetitive (i'm being redundant here as a point) at so many levels. They need better editors.
2. Notice that the quoted villagers have English names: John Edward, Willie... IF the majority of the people there cannot speak English, why do they have English names?
3. Energy sources = generators. Can somebody send people over to Sabah to check out the situation, rather than just sit in their offices reading graphs and statistics off a sheet of paper, information written by people who also have not left their offices and flown over to check out the real reason behind this lack of competition by rural area students vs urban area students?
4. You can't expect kids to know a subject taught in a language they are not fluent in. True? True.
You can't expect kids to know a language without teaching them first. Correct? Correct.
You can't expect teachers to teach a language if they are not fluent in that language. Understand? Understood.
So.. rather than send teachers who can teach the language and the subjects, they revert everything back to BM, because it is easier for everyone. Betul? Lazy, irresponsible, selfish, ridiculous... but ya, Betul.
5. Beliau in the article should only be used for people of importance, not for a Year 5 student. Again, they need better editors.
6. I grew up in Sabah. Tawau. They want to turn it into a city in the next decade but when I was growing up there, it can be considered a rural area. Okay I exaggerate, yes, we have electricity and indoor plumbing.
But we were still quite dependent on generators because our TNB had lousy dynamos / electricity generators. Even now, citizens of Tawau experience blackouts occasionally. We are used to it. If it were to happen in Peninsular Malaysia, it would be headline news.
But anyways, my sisters and I grew up in Tawau, Sabah. We can speak Mandarin, English and BM and people can understand us in all three languages. We can also speak Hokkien. I am learning Hakka and Cantonese. My sister, married to a hokchiew, is learning that dialect. My other sister is learning Kadazandusun in university and can speak fluent Korean and even write it because of her love of Korean boy bands and Korean music overall. The last one knows sms shorthand and Internet language. I can barely understand her sometimes. But that is not the point.
Despite the many other forms of communication we can use or languages we can speak, we are all agreeable to having Science and Mathematics taught in English. Not because we can understand the language, or that we can score in the subject during public examination, but because we know and acknowledge the importance of learning the two subjects in a language that will prepare students for future advancement during higher education.
You can't always live in the moment. You have to be prepared for tomorrow today. And even if you do not want to or were unable to reap the benefits of this policy, you should at least give your kids that opportunity.
Otherwise, you're being selfish, or a politician fishing for votes while denying it.
Democracy sucks when it comes to this.
The contents of my letter mirrors parts of this article below. A rough translation accompanies each paragraph for those less fluent in my national language, BM.
Berita Harian, 18 Julai 2009
Sabah&Sarawak: Mansuh PPSMI dapat tingkat pencapaian pelajar pedalaman
PENSIANGAN (Sabah): Ibu bapa dan murid di kawasan pedalaman di sini yakin pemansuhan Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris (PPSMI) pada 2012 bakal meningkatkan murid cemerlang kedua-dua subjek itu dalam peperiksaan utama.Parents and teachers in the rural areas here are confident that the 'cancelation' of PPSMI in 2012 will increase the number of students who will achieve good results in the two subjects in public examinations.
Ini kerana PPSMI menyebabkan kebanyakan pelajar sama ada di sekolah rendah atau menengah di pedalaman gagal mencapai kejayaan cemerlang dalam peperiksaan utama berikutan tidak memahami bahasa Inggeris.
This is because most students in primary or secondary schools in rural areas fail to achieve good results in public exams due to their inability to understand English.
Dengan mengikuti pengajaran dan pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam bahasa Malaysia, mereka yakin lebih mudah memahaminya, sekali gus mencapai kejayaan dalam Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) dan Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).
By following the teaching of Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia (national language), we are confident [sic] that they will be able to understand the subjects better, and thus achieve good results in UPSR, PMR and SPM (main examinations in primary and secondary schools in Malaysia).
Ketua Kampung Sumabi, Mantoi Paling, 59, berkata murid di kampung itu sukar memahami Sains dan Matematik yang diajar dalam bahasa Inggeris kerana tidak menguasai bahasa berkenaan.
Sumabi Village Chief, Mantoi Paling, 59, says that students in the village find it hard to understand Science and Mathematics that are taught in English because they are not fluent in the language.
"Kami gembira kerana anak kami lebih memahami Sains dan Matematik yang diajar dalam bahasa Malaysia. Dalam peperiksaan UPSR, PMR dan SPM sejak beberapa tahun lalu, tidak ramai murid di kampung ini mendapat keputusan cemerlang kerana tidak memahami bahasa Inggeris," katanya kepada Berita Harian, di sini semalam.
"We are happy because our kid [sic] can better understand Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia. In UPSR, PMR and SPM in the past few years, not many students in the village can achieve good results because they do not understand English," he said to Berita Harian, here yesterday.
Seorang penduduk, John Edward Limposon, 58, berkata PPSMI hanya akan berkesan jika sekolah di pedalaman dilengkapi kemudahan asas, terutama bekalan tenaga elektrik, jalan raya dan makmal komputer.
A villager, John Edward Limposon, 58, says that PPSMI is only effective if rural schools are equipped with basic necessities, especially electrical supply, roads and computer labs.
Katanya, PPSMI tidak berkesan kerana komputer yang dibekalkan di sekolah pedalaman tidak mampu digunakan sepenuhnya kerana ketiadaan bekalan tenaga elektrik.
He says, PPSMI is not effective because the computers provided to the rural schools are not used fully due to the lack of electrical supply.
"Untuk mendapatkan sumber tenaga, sekolah terpaksa bergantung kepada generator. Inilah masalah dihadapi pelajar di pedalaman seperti kampung ini," katanya.
"To get an energy source, the school has depend on generators. This is the problem faced by rural students in areas such like this village," he says.
Pensiangan adalah satu daripada kawasan luar bandar di Sabah. Dengan jarak kira-kira 80 kilometer dari Keningau, daerah ini jauh ketinggalan dari aspek kemudahan asas seperti jalan raya, tenaga dan air.
Pensiangan is one of the rural areas in Sabah. Located nearly 80 kilometres from Keningau, this province is far behind in many aspects such as basic facilities like roads, energy and water.
Murid Tahun 5 Sekolah Kebangsaan Pensiangan, Willie Mantoi, berkata beliau dan murid lain sukar memahami PPSMI kerana tidak menguasai bahasa berkenaan.
Primary 5 student of Pensiangan National School, Willie Mantoi, says that he and other students find it hard to understand PPSMI because they are not fluent in the language.
"Memang bagus dapat belajar Sains dan Matematik dengan menggunakan komputer tetapi kami tidak faham kerana ia diajar dalam bahasa Inggeris," katanya.
"It is good to learn Science and Mathematics with computers but we do not understand because the subjects were taught in English," he says.
Seorang guru di SK Sibangali yang enggan dikenali, berkata PPSMI tidak berkesan kerana komputer dalam makmal komputer sering rosak akibat terpaksa bergantung kepada generator.
A teacher in Sibangali National school who refused to be identified, says that PPSMI is not effective because computers in the computer lab break down a lot due to its dependence on generators.
"Kemudahan komputer untuk PPSMI di pedalaman tidak dapat digunakan seperti di bandar kerana sumber tenaga bergantung kepada generator," katanya.
"Computer facilities for PPSMI in rural areas cannot be used as they are used in urban areas because their power source depends on generators," it says.
----
1. I find the news article redundant and repetitive (i'm being redundant here as a point) at so many levels. They need better editors.
2. Notice that the quoted villagers have English names: John Edward, Willie... IF the majority of the people there cannot speak English, why do they have English names?
3. Energy sources = generators. Can somebody send people over to Sabah to check out the situation, rather than just sit in their offices reading graphs and statistics off a sheet of paper, information written by people who also have not left their offices and flown over to check out the real reason behind this lack of competition by rural area students vs urban area students?
4. You can't expect kids to know a subject taught in a language they are not fluent in. True? True.
You can't expect kids to know a language without teaching them first. Correct? Correct.
You can't expect teachers to teach a language if they are not fluent in that language. Understand? Understood.
So.. rather than send teachers who can teach the language and the subjects, they revert everything back to BM, because it is easier for everyone. Betul? Lazy, irresponsible, selfish, ridiculous... but ya, Betul.
5. Beliau in the article should only be used for people of importance, not for a Year 5 student. Again, they need better editors.
6. I grew up in Sabah. Tawau. They want to turn it into a city in the next decade but when I was growing up there, it can be considered a rural area. Okay I exaggerate, yes, we have electricity and indoor plumbing.
But we were still quite dependent on generators because our TNB had lousy dynamos / electricity generators. Even now, citizens of Tawau experience blackouts occasionally. We are used to it. If it were to happen in Peninsular Malaysia, it would be headline news.
But anyways, my sisters and I grew up in Tawau, Sabah. We can speak Mandarin, English and BM and people can understand us in all three languages. We can also speak Hokkien. I am learning Hakka and Cantonese. My sister, married to a hokchiew, is learning that dialect. My other sister is learning Kadazandusun in university and can speak fluent Korean and even write it because of her love of Korean boy bands and Korean music overall. The last one knows sms shorthand and Internet language. I can barely understand her sometimes. But that is not the point.
Despite the many other forms of communication we can use or languages we can speak, we are all agreeable to having Science and Mathematics taught in English. Not because we can understand the language, or that we can score in the subject during public examination, but because we know and acknowledge the importance of learning the two subjects in a language that will prepare students for future advancement during higher education.
You can't always live in the moment. You have to be prepared for tomorrow today. And even if you do not want to or were unable to reap the benefits of this policy, you should at least give your kids that opportunity.
Otherwise, you're being selfish, or a politician fishing for votes while denying it.
Jul 11, 2009
1 step forward, 3 steps back.
Summarized version: After less than a decade of trying to teach math and science in English in Malaysia, the government has decided to revert to the national language and mother tongues instead. Given reasons include: failure of students to achieve results that are as good as the time of BM, the increasing gap between the achievements of urban students and rural students and the lack of proficient teachers to achieve the goals.
One and C, I get. But the gap answer? Really makes the blood boil.
Needless to say, I was and am utterly disappointed with the current Ministry of Education. And I am not alone in this.
At the point of this writing, 86% have said No to Tun Mahathir's Poll question: Do you support the government's decision to teach Math and Science in Bahasa Malaysia?
But apparently our Education Ministry is not in constant contact with the same 86%. It is being one with nature, going back to the people in rural areas, those who have no streamyx connection, cybercafes, or simply, a dependable electricity supply.
Apparently, the ministry is trying to play saviour to students who live in kampong areas, who couldn't keep up with the rest of the nation seemingly, solely, because sci and maths were taught in English.
Eh-yup, just because of that.
No, the lack of basic necessities like a steady supply of water and lights is not part of the cause.
It is also not the lack of a proper tarred road that leads to their school or a reliable mode of transport that will get them to school, and home before sundown.
It is also not the fact that most teachers are reluctant to go teach in rural areas.
It is also not the fact that kids in rural areas find no need for them to get themselves a proper education because unlike their urbanite peers, they need not be lawyers or doctors or engineers. They just need to be able to count, read, write, speak the national language, and they're set for life.
Nope, their results suck solely because science and maths were taught in English in the past 6 years. Wow, that really stopped them from really achieving great heights.
In Darwin's Survival of the Fittest paper, or maybe an anecdote attached to the concept, it was said that A herd is only as fast as its weakest link. Simply put, when you are in a group fighting against the elements, your achievements are bogged down by the weakest member in your group. In a herd of buffaloes, the weakest link is the young, or the old, or the sickly/injured, or the clueless. Fortunately, nature has its way to weed out these weak links.
They are called predators.
Humans and nature, well, they don't mix well.
I once heard that humans are the only animals that let misfits live among them. A horse with a broken leg will be shot in an instant. An unemployed man with a broken leg will get benefits from the government.
We.. nature... not to be mixed... nope. mm-mmm.
So when a policy is reversed with the given reason that the weakest bunch of students gets an average of fail in class, and not because of political reasons.. you know that we .. are... screwed.
Sigh, I need to earn more money to send Eva to an English medium school because our government has retracted the only advantage the damn system can give Malaysian kids to compete with the rest of the world.
We should make cabinet ministers send their kids to national schools. I'm quite sure they will revert back to English in 2013.
One and C, I get. But the gap answer? Really makes the blood boil.
Needless to say, I was and am utterly disappointed with the current Ministry of Education. And I am not alone in this.
At the point of this writing, 86% have said No to Tun Mahathir's Poll question: Do you support the government's decision to teach Math and Science in Bahasa Malaysia?
But apparently our Education Ministry is not in constant contact with the same 86%. It is being one with nature, going back to the people in rural areas, those who have no streamyx connection, cybercafes, or simply, a dependable electricity supply.
Apparently, the ministry is trying to play saviour to students who live in kampong areas, who couldn't keep up with the rest of the nation seemingly, solely, because sci and maths were taught in English.
Eh-yup, just because of that.
No, the lack of basic necessities like a steady supply of water and lights is not part of the cause.
It is also not the lack of a proper tarred road that leads to their school or a reliable mode of transport that will get them to school, and home before sundown.
It is also not the fact that most teachers are reluctant to go teach in rural areas.
It is also not the fact that kids in rural areas find no need for them to get themselves a proper education because unlike their urbanite peers, they need not be lawyers or doctors or engineers. They just need to be able to count, read, write, speak the national language, and they're set for life.
Nope, their results suck solely because science and maths were taught in English in the past 6 years. Wow, that really stopped them from really achieving great heights.
In Darwin's Survival of the Fittest paper, or maybe an anecdote attached to the concept, it was said that A herd is only as fast as its weakest link. Simply put, when you are in a group fighting against the elements, your achievements are bogged down by the weakest member in your group. In a herd of buffaloes, the weakest link is the young, or the old, or the sickly/injured, or the clueless. Fortunately, nature has its way to weed out these weak links.
They are called predators.
Humans and nature, well, they don't mix well.
I once heard that humans are the only animals that let misfits live among them. A horse with a broken leg will be shot in an instant. An unemployed man with a broken leg will get benefits from the government.
We.. nature... not to be mixed... nope. mm-mmm.
So when a policy is reversed with the given reason that the weakest bunch of students gets an average of fail in class, and not because of political reasons.. you know that we .. are... screwed.
Sigh, I need to earn more money to send Eva to an English medium school because our government has retracted the only advantage the damn system can give Malaysian kids to compete with the rest of the world.
We should make cabinet ministers send their kids to national schools. I'm quite sure they will revert back to English in 2013.
Jul 4, 2009
Change in lifestyle
Having kids is not the difficult part, it's the rest of it: educating them, providing for them, giving them the right nutrients, the right school, the right morals, etc... One of the toughest is to manage their feeding times.
Eva is 9 weeks old by the way.
There are two schools of thoughts here.
One - you feed them little by little and regularly. When they cry, feed them, it's a guessing game on how many ounces they want at the time. You waste a lot of milk powder, a lot of strength in getting up in the middle of nights and you sometimes feel like you are being bullied by your baby.
Second school - feed them at regular intervals, say 4 ounces every 3 hours. Once the time is fixed do not let go. If her feeding time is supposed to be 3 pm, and she starts crying at 230 pm, do not relent. Let her drink warm water until 3 pm arrives. Then feed her the 4 ounces and make sure that she finishes them. If she doesn't, no more is given until 6 pm. This one sounds cruel, and your baby would look like she is being bullied by you. But for mothers who are working and fathers who are working two jobs, this will help save time and not waste milk powder (which is bladi expensive if you ask me).
The babysitter (Auntie) I send Eva to is of the second school. She has managed to set Eva's feeding times within the first week I sent her there. Not only is her feeding time set, so is her bathing time. Yesterday was Saturday and today being Sunday, we have Eva to ourselves for both day and night. At exactly 10 am, she will be crying and screaming... not for milk, but for her bath. Repeat and rinse for the 5 pm round.
Kids are amazing but Auntie is amazing-er. Her eldest is already 13, her youngest around 9. She had babysitted countless of other kids before Eva and it's good to know that she practices the same discipline with her but at the same time adores her. Phew! Now I can get rid of 'mother's worry' - the syndrome.
My sleeping pattern is screwed up now though. No help from Auntie there.
Eva is 9 weeks old by the way.
There are two schools of thoughts here.
One - you feed them little by little and regularly. When they cry, feed them, it's a guessing game on how many ounces they want at the time. You waste a lot of milk powder, a lot of strength in getting up in the middle of nights and you sometimes feel like you are being bullied by your baby.
Second school - feed them at regular intervals, say 4 ounces every 3 hours. Once the time is fixed do not let go. If her feeding time is supposed to be 3 pm, and she starts crying at 230 pm, do not relent. Let her drink warm water until 3 pm arrives. Then feed her the 4 ounces and make sure that she finishes them. If she doesn't, no more is given until 6 pm. This one sounds cruel, and your baby would look like she is being bullied by you. But for mothers who are working and fathers who are working two jobs, this will help save time and not waste milk powder (which is bladi expensive if you ask me).
The babysitter (Auntie) I send Eva to is of the second school. She has managed to set Eva's feeding times within the first week I sent her there. Not only is her feeding time set, so is her bathing time. Yesterday was Saturday and today being Sunday, we have Eva to ourselves for both day and night. At exactly 10 am, she will be crying and screaming... not for milk, but for her bath. Repeat and rinse for the 5 pm round.
Kids are amazing but Auntie is amazing-er. Her eldest is already 13, her youngest around 9. She had babysitted countless of other kids before Eva and it's good to know that she practices the same discipline with her but at the same time adores her. Phew! Now I can get rid of 'mother's worry' - the syndrome.
My sleeping pattern is screwed up now though. No help from Auntie there.
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